Evaluation of aerated subsurface drip irrigation on yield, dry weight partitioning and water use efficiency of a broad-acre chickpea (Cicer arietinum, L.) in a vertosol

Chickpea is susceptible to water logging and responds to soil aeration. Oxygen deficiency at both a temporal and spatial scale could occur for a subsurface drip irrigated crop, particularly in heavy clay soils. Use of aerated water irrigation (oxygation) to overcome hypoxia in the rhizosphere was evaluated in broad-acre chickpea crops in 2006 and 2007, in a heavy clay soil of central Queensland, Australia. The injection of 12% by volume air into...